Goodnight Moon is the perfect early reader, not only for the physicality of a board book which introduces children to books as a sort of hybrid between books and toys, but further because of its simplistic imagery. While other contemporary books (Zoom, Light) try their hand at image-heavy, somewhat meaningless stories, Goodnight Moon does so through a surreal setting, making the narrative open up beyond its own text. The big green room itself is an interesting entity--why is it bright green? Why are the curtains striped with the same green and an almost neon orange? And why are the 34;people34; in the book actually rabbits, though never addressed as such? All of these questions are easy to ask as an adult, but none are too complicated to be posed by a child, making the possibilities of Goodnight Moon apparently endless. One can even ask why Brown chose to say goodnight to the things in the book--a brush, a bowl of mush--and not others pictured. By wholly avoiding the opportunity most children's books make of teaching a lesson, Goodnight Moon ends up teaching kids the art of observation, and of quiet appreciation. The ritual of going to bed (something that's often difficult for young children) is simplified not by moral grandstanding, but simply by saying goodnight to objects around the room.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]